Savage_Rob wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:09:The main problem with this stuff is that you need to be in their field of view, which often means in front of them (possibly even requiring flashing lights and sirens). Most of the time I've been cut off it's been from someone to my side or in front of me. This morning while traveling in the far left lane of a 3-lane, 45 MPH street a cage cut across all the lanes and stopped in front of me so he could make an illegal U-turn at a break in the median. I had screeching tires and swerved around him with my horn blasting. He never even looked in my direction.
Most people are idiots, me included.
You absolutely cannot trust cagers to watch out for you or expect anyone to obey traffic laws or yield whne you have the right of way. It's your butt, and you have to watch out for it. I never ever stay in anyone's blind spot, and I won't let anyone stay in mine. I never tailgait (around town I try for at least 2 car lengths). I never let anyone tailgate me (pretty rare with my cherry bomb, anyway). Gotta keep your eyes moving, espescially looking for people who want to sneak into traffic. Also very important, esp. in a town with long lights, is to pay attention when stopped at a red light; people love to rear end you here; keep it in first and keep eyes in the back of your head. I also like to pump my brakes lightly to flash them. When making a turn at a stop sign or light, I turn around to see if the folks are looking at my hand signals (no blinkers).